This weekend featured something a bit different for me – a return to the co-driver’s seat! I was asked to sit with Alan Oldfield in his Darrian for the Mach 1 Stages at Machrihanish.

This was the first time I had been back in the co-driver’s seat since I started driving three years ago and I found it a really valuable experience. It was useful to see things from a different perspective. While rallying, the driver and co-driver have to work well together as a team and it’s good to understand this from both sides.

We had a steady start to the weekend, as the venue was new to both of us, but on the second day we were able to pick up the pace and were pleased to pick up 2nd in class and 7th overall in a competitive field.

It was my first visit to the Mach 1 Stages and it’s an incredible event. It’s a long way to travel but it was worth it for the brilliant venue in a beautiful part of Scotland. It was also great value with 95 stage miles over the two days, and very well organised – hopefully I can return next year as a driver!